Level System
The actual details of the game are going to be much harder to iron out. For this reason, using D&D as a skeleton is preferable. I want there to be more to defense than D&D has. I would prefer a system more akin to Pokemon, where there is evasion as well as defense. Both air and earth could theoretically be considered somewhat defensive by nature. However, they go about this very differently, and stats should reflect this. Whereas air attempts to not get hit, earth relies on not getting hurt from the hit. Constitution could be adapted to better reflect defense. Since magic is much more prominent than in D&D, I want the system of spells to be very organized and logical. Also, spells will be called techniques instead, because spells sounds too mystical. Again, here, I will take from Pokemon in the technique system. In Pokemon, when a Pokemon levels up, it gains a new attack sometimes. These attacks, set, specific techniques, will be similar to how my techiques work. A character will, along with their class levels and total level, have special levels for tertiary, secondary, and primary energy. These levels are the ones that define which techniques are usable. Tertiary level is akin to fighter level, and opens up non-magical techniques. All characters begin with a tertiary level of 1. A character can have up to 3 (for now) secondary energy levels. These dictate which techniques can be used from that energy type. If the color is a selected element of one’s class, then that color is level one. All non-selected energy types are level 0. A character can have one primary energy level, if said character’s class is white or black magic wielding. Otherwise, the character’s primary energy level will be 0. This may seem a bit confusing, so I’ll go with an example. Fred wants to make an awesome sauce red mage. He chooses his character to be an orc, and takes on the Pyromancer class. As a Pyromancer, every time Fred levels up, his character gains one level in red energy. Because Pyromancers specialize in secondary energy, they do not have much capability as a fighter. Therefore, his tertiary energy level only increases every 4 levels (beginning at 1). But now Fred changed his mind. He wants his orc to be a better fighter than Pyromancers are capable of. So he decides to instead take the Berserker class. Because Berserkers are not as powerful mages as Pyromancers, they grow 2 levels in red energy for every 3 levels that Fred’s character grows. Berserkers are also better fighters than Pyromancers, so they grow 2 levels in tertiary energy for every 3 levels grown. But this is still not good enough for Fred! He wants his orc to be the greatest fighter in the world! So he decides to forgo secondary energy completely and instead make his character a full-out fighter. As a non-magical Fighter, Fred has level 0 for his red energy, and it does not increase. However, Fred now grows one level in tertiary energy for every level he grows in his Fighter class. So that’s just an example of how this system works, but what about dichrome classes? Well, fortunately Fred’s sister, Betty, is interested in those two. Betty wants to be a Swamp mage. To do this, she chooses to be an elf that takes on the blue-green mage class. Whenever Betty’s swamp mage classes raises one level, her blue energy classes raises .67 The same thing goes for her green energy class. Betty’s tertiary energy grows at the normal mage rate of .25/level. As can be seen here, dichromes are not as fast-growing as a monochrome mage. So why not just multi-class, and switch back and forth? Well, Betty decides to try that. Instead of taking the swamp mage class, Betty decides to switch back and forth between leveling her blue mage and green mage class. The result of this would be growing .5/level in both blue and green. As can be seen by that math, choosing a dichrome class is almost always more effective than attempting to multi-class. That said, let’s say Betty wants to be a swamp mage, but wants to lean more towards green energy. This too is possible! Betty can simply multi-class here, growing 2 levels as a swamp mage then one level as a green mage. The result? An average growth in blue energy of .5/level and in green energy of .75/level. Pretty cool right? Dichrome warriors also have lowered rates of energy gain. Instead of gaining .67/level in both colors, they only gain .5/level (maybe less, balance may be an issue). The dichrome warrior still grows in fighter class at .67/level. Note: .67/level is an average. In reality, the numbers are kept whole and just staggered, so that the character would not gain a point every third level. Having .67 or 1.33 points in energy is a little pointless. Also, when a character has multiple energy growth ratios less than 1, they are staggered. The character wouldn’t have a certain level where they gain nothing. I will eventually make a table of all classes and their respective energy growth rates. However the formula is simple enough, and all classes follow it, so hopefully the pattern is easy to pick up. Now that I’ve explained how energy levels work, I need to explain how they are used. Let’s get Fred’s help again. Fred has decided to go with the pyromancer after all. He sees a really awesome fire spell available, called fire breath, where he gets to breath fire at the opponent. How does he go about learning this spell? Fred must check the spell’s level. Fire breath’s level is 3 and it is a red spell. Therefore, to learn it, he must have a level 3 red energy capacity. Fred reaches level 3 of his pyromancer class, and with it he now has a level 3 red energy capacity! Awesome, now Fred can learn fire breath. Fred adds fire breath to his list of usable techniques. He places it in his book of techniques, and from then on he won’t forget it. But Fred just noticed another level 3 fire attack that he wants: Flaming axe. Flaming axe comes with another requirement. The wielder must use an axe. As will be seen, many spells have requirements besides energy capacity. Since Fred is level 3 in red energy, he can learn Flaming axe as well as Fire breath right? Wrong! At each level increase, only techniques adding up equal to the character’s energy capacity are able to be learned. Since Fred already learned fire breath, a level 3 red energy spell, he has used up all of his capacity. But worry not, Fred, as you will get your chance to use Flaming axe. When Fred reaches level 4, his red energy capacity increases to 4 as well. Now Fred can get his Flaming axe spell, and he does so. But wait, he still has 1 more expendable point of red energy. Fred can use this point on another level 1 red technique. This way, he actually learns 2 techniques in one level. Points always refresh each time a character levels up in class, but they do not exceed their current maximum. If Fred saved did not use 1 of his points as a level 4 mage, when he reaches level 5 his expendable energy points will still be 5, not 6. That said, the points can be spent at any time during a character’s current level. Yes, I know I changed from referring to them as levels to points. I decided this was easier. Many techniques are not monochromic. Let’s say, for instance, Betty want to learn the skill aquagord, which creates a succulent plant filled with water that is good for eating or drinking. The Aquagord technique requires 1 point in blue energy and 1 point in green energy. Therefore, Betty must be a level 1 swamp mage to create one. Many techniques require earlier techniques before they can be learned. Betty wants to learn the poisongord spell, which is level 3 in green and 1 in blue. But it also requires her to already know the aquagord technique. Primary energy level: Primary energy works as an additonal focus on top of secondary energy. If primary energy levels are taken, they take away from the secondary energy options. For more information see the class system page. Category:RPG Basics